WRITTEN QUESTION E-0723/02 by Jonas Sjöstedt (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Report to the Barcelona Summit on economic and social issues.
Date: 2002-03-15
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU environmental policy, European Council, economic policy, greenhouse gas, public statement, report, social policy, summit meeting, sustainable development

C 229 E/128

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

26.9.2002

(2002/C 229 E/144)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0723/02

by Jonas Sjöstedt (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(15 March 2002)

Subject: Report to the Barcelona Summit on economic and social issues

According to Domingo Jiménez-Beltrán, Executive Director of the EEA (interview in Dagens Nyheter of
13 February 2002), the Commission considers the time is not right to include a survey of the environment
in the report on economic and social issues that is to be submitted to the Barcelona Summit.

According to Mr Jiménez-Beltrán, there is fresh evidence that emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon
dioxide are no longer falling as before, and he now wants to see this information discussed. He also says
that the Commission is choosing to publish out-of-date and more positive emissions data, instead of the
new, gloomy figures. The Union’s aim is that transport activity should grow more slowly than the
economy. That objective is not being met at present, which means increased pressure from greenhouse
gases.

This, then, is what Mr Jiménez-Beltrán considers the Commission should be putting in the report to the
Barcelona Summit. Has the Commission taken this criticism on board, and is it planning to change the
contents of the report in the run-up to the summit?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(29 April 2002)

The Commission is aware of the interview in Dagens Nyheter to which the Honourable Member refers.
Shortly after this interview (on 18 February), the Commission received a copy of a letter from Mr Jiménez
Beltrán to the editor of the newspaper, explaining that he was misunderstood when he was quoted as
suggesting that the Commission had wilfully hidden information.

In this letter, however, Mr Jiménez Beltrán reiterates his opinion that the environmental dimension is not
sufficiently covered in the Commission’s report and thatt the Report doesn’t take into account important
information provided by the European Environment Agency and Eurostat.

As to the environmental dimension of the Commission’s report for Barcelona, the Commission has started
to deliver on its commitments following the Union’s adoption of a strategy for sustainable development at
the Gothenburg European Council.

The spring report is based on the set of structural indicators specifically agreed with Council for this
purpose. This set now includes seven key environmental indicators which will allow the performance of
the Union and its Member States to be measured and compared in areas like greenhouse gas emissions,
transport growth, etc.

On this basis, the spring report provides = inter alia = a first assessment of progress on sustainable
development and how the economic, social and environmental strands of the Lisbon strategy are being
integrated.

Given the relatively short period since the launch of the Sustainable Development Strategy, the spring
report depicts progress of the environmental strand of the Lisbon Strategy and proposes sustainable
approaches in the fields of transport and energy (e.g. creating incentives for the use of clean technologies
through progress on energy taxation, the use of transport infrastructure pricing mechanisms, and an EU-
wide emission trading system).

Following the conclusions of the Barcelona European Council, the Commission remains fully committed to
ensuring a full and prominent role for the environmental dimension in further versions of its Spring
Report in agreement with the Gothenburg European Council.

26.9.2002

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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With regard to problems in terms of data availability and time lag in the field of environment, it should be
recognised that a number of environmental indicators will be available with a longer time lag than that
observed for other structural indicators. The Commission will continue its cooperation with the Member
States and the European Environment Agency on the availability for future reports of the best up-to-date
information. The policy analysis in these future reports, amongst others with regard to the issue of climate
change, will reflect the data available.

(2002/C 229 E/145)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0748/02

by Francesco Rutelli (ELDR) to the Council

(19 March 2002)

Subject: Anti-Europe statements = Lega Nord Congress

In 2000, statements by Mr Haider, a representative of the governing majority but not an actual member of
the Austrian Government, provoked such strong reactions from the other EU Member States that the
Austrian Head of State and Chancellor had to issue formal confirmation of their belief in European
integration and in the values upon which it is based.

Statements by a member of the Italian Government (namely, the minister responsible for institutional
reform, Mr Bossi) concerning the ‘Stalinist’ nature of the European Union are further examples of the kind
of insulting view expressed earlier, such as: ‘The European Charter of Rights was drawn up by an alliance
of Masons, fascists, Nazis and communists;’Europe is a new embodiment of fascism, since it takes power
away from the people’; ‘They want a soviet Europe which denies the rights of the people’.

However, the seriousness of the most recent statements lies specifically in the fact that they were voiced at
the Congress of the governing party (the Lega Nord), which was attended in person by the President of the
Italian Council, Silvio Berlusconi, who was unwilling on that occasion to distinguish between his own
views (or those of the government) and the ones which had just been expressed, thereby confirming them
as indicative of his coalition’s policy.

This could cast doubt on Italy’s willingness to ‘facilitate the achievement of the Community’s tasks’ and to
‘abstain from any measure which could jeopardise the attainment of
this Treaty’
(Article 10 of the EC Treaty). Under the Treaties the Member States are required to ‘cooperate fairly’ in
European integration and that obligation is all the more incumbent on government members who, as such,
are also members of the EU Council of Ministers.

the objectives of

In the light of the extremely serious anti-European statements issued at the Lega Nord congress, what
action does the Council intend to take in order to seek clarification from the appropriate sources regarding
the Italian Government’s current situation, if only to prevent further unwelcome developments?

(2002/C 229 E/146)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0756/02

by Antonio Di Pietro (ELDR) to the Council

(19 March 2002)

Subject: Statements by Mr Bossi

The Italian minister responsible for institutional reform, Mr Umberto Bossi, has recently described the
European Union as ‘Stalinist’ and as a kind of ‘Forcolandia’ (a colourful, pejorative term which suggests that
the EU promotes acts which undermine the fundamental freedoms of the individual). Other government
representatives share or at least endorse his deplorable views.